Proposition In The Gettysburg Address

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The Gettysburg Address is considered by scholars and historians to be one of the most famous and meaningful speeches ever given by a president of the United States. Different from the average politician Lincoln’s speech was short, he said what he wanted to say without complicating it; making it easy for the audience to understand and to get his point across. Lincoln limited his subject, and removed confusion, in order to inspire the principles of human equality in his audience with the intent to unify the nation. While, in the midst of a civil war, Lincoln used words that not only inspired the people, would resonate through time, for example, consecrate, proposition, sacred and hallowed ground. Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most memorable speeches in American history in just two-minutes, and consisting of just 272 words at the dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. Within, the first sentence of Lincoln’s speech he reminds the citizens that our fore fathers “brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” (Gettysburg Address, 2013). “Proposition” is Lincolns comparison to the original dream of our country, and the dedication to the men that sacrificed everything to fight, he is wants everyone to …show more content…
Consecrating the ground of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, would strike a chord with the American people. Lincoln says that the sacred “Hallowed Ground” cannot blessed or made holy by the dedication from the people, but by the brave men that fought and or died on the sanctified ground. The line is full of intense respect for the men and the memory of what they

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